"Dr. Druker and you didn't call me!"
I drove to Lawrence, KS today to hear a scientific talk. Usually, I manage to get through about 10 slides before I start dozing off. Today's talk was titled "Imatinib as a Paradigm of Targeted Cancer Therapy" presented by Dr. Brian Druker. I was anticipating a lot of slides on gene translocation, protein binding, DNA sequences etc..
Yes, those slides were there.
But I got much more out of it.
Around 5:30 tonight, I got the following text message: "Dr. Druker and you didn't call me! That man is my hero. I would have been there in a heartbeat."
This message was from a friend, TNT running buddy and leukemia survivor, and by then, I knew exactly what she was talking about.
You see, Imatinib is the common name for the anti-leukemia drug Gleevec and Dr Druker is the person that saw that this drug made it to the market.
I was both fascinated and entertained by his words. He went into the history of CML. He touched briefly on the mechanisms of the drug (inhibition of tyrosine kinase, because I know you are dying to know).
But he then went on to talk about the issues of getting this drug to the market. It was actually shelved for three years at Novartis because they were concerned about three things. First, history has shown that kinase inhibitors never work. Second, they were sure it would be toxic. But third, because of the relatively small number of people in the country suffering from CML, they felt they would never make enough off of it to justify development.
Fortunately, Dr. Druker convinced them, in 1998, to let him run a limited clinical trial with this compound. The rest, as they say, is history. There was 98% success rate with Gleevec - meaning 98% of the patients in the early stages of CML treated with this drug survived. Results don't get much better.
But most of all, I realized today, more than ever, how the money we raise through Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society are finding cures for these cancers. I really wish my friends with the LLS could have been there to hear his talk. I left the talk feeling quite comfortable knowing we are supporting people like Dr Druker.
And as for Novartis, none of their three concerns came to fruition. The drug worked, it wasn't toxic and worldwide sales of Gleevec are something like $2 billion annually. Not bad for a drug that was almost shelved 12 years ago.
Yes, those slides were there.
But I got much more out of it.
Around 5:30 tonight, I got the following text message: "Dr. Druker and you didn't call me! That man is my hero. I would have been there in a heartbeat."
This message was from a friend, TNT running buddy and leukemia survivor, and by then, I knew exactly what she was talking about.
You see, Imatinib is the common name for the anti-leukemia drug Gleevec and Dr Druker is the person that saw that this drug made it to the market.
I was both fascinated and entertained by his words. He went into the history of CML. He touched briefly on the mechanisms of the drug (inhibition of tyrosine kinase, because I know you are dying to know).
But he then went on to talk about the issues of getting this drug to the market. It was actually shelved for three years at Novartis because they were concerned about three things. First, history has shown that kinase inhibitors never work. Second, they were sure it would be toxic. But third, because of the relatively small number of people in the country suffering from CML, they felt they would never make enough off of it to justify development.
Fortunately, Dr. Druker convinced them, in 1998, to let him run a limited clinical trial with this compound. The rest, as they say, is history. There was 98% success rate with Gleevec - meaning 98% of the patients in the early stages of CML treated with this drug survived. Results don't get much better.
But most of all, I realized today, more than ever, how the money we raise through Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society are finding cures for these cancers. I really wish my friends with the LLS could have been there to hear his talk. I left the talk feeling quite comfortable knowing we are supporting people like Dr Druker.
And as for Novartis, none of their three concerns came to fruition. The drug worked, it wasn't toxic and worldwide sales of Gleevec are something like $2 billion annually. Not bad for a drug that was almost shelved 12 years ago.
posted by Kevin at 6:43 PM
1 Comments:
2,6B but who's counting ;P
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